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Institute for European Studies

Seed Grants

Application Deadline: April 7, 2026
Application Timeframe: Spring
Kassam climate/calendar research team in the field

Details

The Einaudi Center's faculty seed grants advance international research and education at Cornell and support international activities and events.

Read about the research Einaudi seeded last year


Priority: Bringing Researchers Together

Einaudi seed grants promote the work of internationally engaged Cornell faculty. The awards seed faculty's interdisciplinary research and educational initiatives and support international studies workshops and seminars organized under faculty leadership. All disciplines and topics are welcome.

"If you think about the issues of nationalism, climate change, threats to humanitarian aid—a lot of the things that are foremost on our minds these days are affecting not only the U.S. They really are very global. And at the same time as they’re global threats and interests, the forms they take and the abilities to address them differ a lot across different regions and across different peoples and places."

~ Ellen Lust

Program Alignment

Our seed grants aim to encourage research and thinking that reach across world regions and bring together researchers who have deep knowledge in different regions and disciplines.

Proposals must indicate alignment with at least one of our international studies programs. The program director's acknowledgment of alignment does not guarantee the proposal will be funded or that the program will provide logistical or administrative support. 

Applicants: Please initiate a discussion with the faculty program director(s) in advance of submitting your application. We encourage discussing any necessary program support before submitting your proposal.

Proposals that engage two or more programs are eligible for larger awards of up to $25,000.

Eligibility

Tenured and tenure-track Cornell faculty are eligible to apply as individuals or as a team. Faculty-led programs and centers across campus, in all Cornell colleges and schools, are also eligible for the awards.

  • Funding-eligible activities include data collection, travel, meetings, research assistance, public engagement initiatives, curricular development, conferences/workshops, and virtual networks.
  • Activities not eligible for funding include salary offset, summer salary, computers/equipment, student stipends, and tuition.

Note: The Einaudi Center will not accept proposals from previous awardees whose projects are still in progress or recipients who failed to submit a final report by the deadline stated in the award letter.

Period of Activity

All funds must be used within one year of the award date.


Proposal Evaluation 

All successful proposals will meet these criteria. The proposal:

  • Shows a high likelihood of generating new knowledge of key economic, environmental, social, cultural, or political problems in the world.
  • Includes a detailed dissemination and/or public engagement strategy.
  • Includes a methodologically sound assessment plan and clearly articulated deliverables.
  • Includes a budget appropriate for planned activities.
  • Includes a sustainable future funding plan.

Research Criteria

Successful research proposals will also meet the following criteria. The research project: 

  • Aligns with one or more Einaudi international studies programs and produces long-term benefits to international studies at Cornell.
  • Engages faculty from different disciplines and colleges. Creates networks that connect scholars across the university and around the world.
  • Generates new knowledge of key economic, environmental, social, cultural, or political questions in the world.
  • Will launch external funding requests with high potential of securing follow-on funding.

Workshop and Event Criteria

Successful proposals for event support will also meet the following criteria. The event: 

  • Aligns with one or more Einaudi international studies programs and produces long-term benefits to international studies at Cornell.
  • Increases the global understanding and competence of faculty, students, international partners, and/or the general public.
  • Generates valuable discussion and knowledge of key economic, environmental, social, cultural, or political questions in the world.

How to Apply

Complete the seed grant funding application. Applicants must submit a proposal including the following:

  • Statement including objectives, activities, work plan, expected outputs, beneficiaries, and impact
  • Detailed budget with justification of expenses
  • Curricula vitae (CVs) for principal faculty
  • For research proposals:
    • Plans for pursuing future research and external follow-on funding
    • Human subjects approval, where relevant

Questions?

Please email our academic programming staff if you have questions about the seed grant program or your application.

Additional Information

Already enrolled as a European Studies Minor? Join us!

November 12, 2020

5:00 pm

If you’re already enrolled in the ES minor, join us on Thursday, November 12th at 5:00 pm (virtually) to learn what opportunities are available to you and to meet other students interested in European Studies.

Take a 2-minute mini-quiz to see how far along you are in completing the minor.

Have questions? Contact the Institute for European Studies directly for an advising appointment.

Additional Information

Program

Einaudi Center for International Studies

Institute for European Studies

Learn more about becoming a minor in European Studies!

November 10, 2020

5:00 pm

The Institute for European Studies is excited to let you know that students currently enrolled in Comparative Literature, Government, History, History of Art, and Romance Studies courses have already completed the first requirements for a European Studies (ES) Minor.

Through an interdisciplinary curriculum, you can mold the ES Minor to your interests. You’ll have the opportunity to explore Europe’s past, present, and future and demonstrate a knowledge of European languages, culture, history, politics, and international relations.

The minor offers the chance to take courses across colleges on subjects that shape your understanding of a globalizing world, while also providing you with an area of expertise. You will gain critical thinking skills, language abilities, and helpful frameworks for assessing today’s most pressing issues in Europe and around the world.

Join us for an information session on Tuesday, November 10th at 5:00 pm to chat about your interests and learn more about the European Studies minor from IES faculty, staff, and student representatives.

If you’re already enrolled in the minor, join us on Thursday, November 12th at 5:00 pm to learn what opportunities are available to you and to meet other students interested in European Studies.

Take a 2-minute mini-quiz to see how far along you are in completing the minor.

Contact the Institute for European Studies directly for an advising appointment.

Additional Information

Program

Einaudi Center for International Studies

Institute for European Studies

The Police and the Public: Global Perspectives (Lund Critical Debate)

December 9, 2020

6:30 pm

Protests against racism and police violence crescendoed in the United States and around the world in 2020. In the United States and internationally, how can we balance social justice, accountability, and personal freedom with demands for order and security?

This Lund Critical Debate brings together the United Nations’ police commissioner and a noted expert on political conflict resolution to discuss strategies—both inside and outside the policing framework—for public safety and law enforcement. The conversation will address current questions around security and policing, including political violence, racial injustice and Black Lives Matter, and global responses to unlawful use of force.

The panel welcomes questions in advance and during the event. Registration is required.

Panelists
Luís Carrilho, United Nations Police Adviser. He has served since November 2017 as police commissioner and director of the UN’s Police Division. He previously served as the police commissioner in multidimensional United Nations peacekeeping operations in Timor Leste, Haiti, and the Central African Republic.

Christian Davenport, Professor, Department of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Michigan. His research focuses on racism, social movements, and political conflict, including human rights violations, genocide, torture, political surveillance, and civil war. His most recent book is The Peace Continuum: What It Is and How To Study It (Oxford University Press, 2018).

Moderator
Sabrina Karim, Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies; Hardis Family Assistant Professor for Teaching Excellence, Department of Government, A&S. Her research focuses on conflict and peace processes, international involvement in post-conflict security, and state building in the aftermath of civil war.

About the Debate
This year’s Lund Critical Debate is hosted by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, part of the Einaudi Center. Established in 2008, the Einaudi Center's Lund Critical Debate Series is made possible by the generosity of Judith Lund Biggs ’57.

Additional Information

Program

Einaudi Center for International Studies

Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies

East Asia Program

Southeast Asia Program

Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Institute for African Development

Institute for European Studies

South Asia Program

Semi-Study Break: World Music of the Moment with Global Cornell

November 16, 2020

11:00 am

Celebrate International Education Week #IEW2020 with Global Cornell!

Join DJ Daniel Bass of WRFI's Monsoon Radio for world music of 2020—from coronavirus and mass incarceration, to migration, love, dancing, and beyond. Jonathan Miller of Homelands Productions cohosts.

For semi-finals: It's a semi-study break. See you there.

Registration is required.

Daniel Bass (South Asia Program) has been a radio DJ for nearly 30 years. As an undergraduate at Carleton College, he was music director of KRLX, the student-run radio station, and hosted a weekly show. In graduate school at the University of Michigan, he cohosted a weekly show of South Asian music on WCBN, the college/community radio station in Ann Arbor. In 2013, he started Monsoon Radio on WPKN in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He brought the show to Ithaca's WRFI in 2017. Monsoon Radio features music of South Asia, its influences and diasporas, branching out to music of the Indian Ocean and the Muslim world and fusions from all over the globe. Until the pandemic forced the show into hiatus, Monsoon Radio aired every other Tuesday night on WRFI, 88.1 FM, and wrfi.org.

Jonathan Miller's work as a journalist, writer, and editor has taken him to more than 20 countries in Asia, the Americas, Africa, Europe, and the Pacific. His radio and television reports have been broadcast on NPR, Marketplace, BBC, PBS NewsHour, and other outlets. As executive director of the journalism collective Homelands Productions, he has designed and produced multi-platform projects on cultural change, globalization and work, and the future of food. He serves as board chair of Ithaca City of Asylum. From 2016 to 2018 he was associate director of communication at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.

Register here: https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hjkj48IdQ7yEVetaG1QFlA

Additional Information

Program

Einaudi Center for International Studies

South Asia Program

Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Institute for African Development

Institute for European Studies

Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies

East Asia Program

Southeast Asia Program

IES Graduate Research Grant

Application Deadline: March 1, 2026
Application Timeframe: Spring
Reading Room Inside the Portuguese National Library

Details

The IES Graduate Research Grant is available to graduate students in any field of study whose research is focused on the study of Europe.

Criteria

  • Quality of the research proposal within the field
  • Validity and feasibility of the project
  • Research and professional qualifications
  • Strength of academic performance and letter of recommendation

Requirements

  • 4-5 page research proposal (double-spaced) with bibliography
  • Project budget
  • 1 letter of recommendation*

Winners receive up to $4,000 in funding, distributed through their bursar account. The IES Graduate Research Grant application is conducted together with the Manon Michels and Michele Sicca Grant competitions. Candidates submit a single application and are automatically considered for each of the awards.

*The online application form requires applicants to provide the name and email address of a faculty and/or staff recommender. The online system automatically generates a notification email to the recommender with instructions on how to log in and upload a recommendation letter. The submission deadline for a letter of recommendation is March 8, 2026

Contact IES with questions about this award.

Additional Information

Funding Type

  • Fellowship

Role

  • Student

Program

Luigi Einaudi Graduate Dissertation Fellowship

Application Deadline: March 1, 2026
Application Timeframe: Spring
Institute for European Studies Banner

Details

The Luigi Einaudi Graduate Dissertation Fellowship is a semester-long or year-long fellowship available to graduate students in modern European government, history, economics, and related social science fields. The award consists of a graduate student stipend for one or two semesters, in-absentia fees, and enrollment in Cornell's student health insurance plan.

Criteria

This fellowship is designed to enable graduate students to conduct field and archival research focused on Europe for an extended period (4-8 months). To be eligible, applicants must have completed the "A" exam in their department or have an exam date scheduled prior to submitting their application and have a dissertation project approved by their dissertation committee.

  • Quality of the research proposal in a social science field
  • Validity and feasibility of the applicant’s research project
  • Research and professional qualifications
  • Strength of the student’s academic performance and letters of recommendation

Requirements

  • 8-10 page project proposal (double-spaced) with bibliography
  • 2 letters of recommendation
The online application form requires applicants to provide the names and email addresses of faculty recommenders. The online system automatically generates a notification email to the recommenders with instructions on how to log in and upload a recommendation letter. The submission deadline for a letter of recommendation is March 8, 2026.

Contact IES with questions about this award.

Additional Information

Funding Type

  • Fellowship

Role

  • Student

Program

Susan Tarrow Fellowship for Research in Europe

Application Deadline: March 1, 2026
Application Timeframe: Spring
Photo of Italian Architecture

Details

The Susan Tarrow Fellowship for Research in Europe was established in 2005 in honor of the associate director of the Institute for European Studies from 1985-2005. One of Tarrow's priorities was to establish funding to enable Cornell undergraduate students to pursue summer field research in Europe and to provide them with the intellectual and practical advising they need at all stages of their projects.

Undergraduate students from all fields of study are invited to submit applications to pursue research projects focused on Europe. In light of Tarrow’s passion for France and Italy, students planning a project in those countries are particularly encouraged to apply, though the fellowship is open to all Europeanists.

Requirements

  • 4-5 page project proposal (double-spaced) with bibliography
  • Budget listing estimated costs for airfare, lodging, food, etc.
  • 1 letter of recommendation from Cornell Faculty
  • Transcript 

The winner will receive up to $4,000 in funding, distributed through their bursar account.

The online application form requires applicants to provide the names and email addresses of faculty recommenders. The online system automatically generates a notification email to the recommenders with instructions on how to log in and upload a recommendation letter. The submission deadline for a letter of recommendation is March 8, 2026.

Contact IES with questions about this award.

Additional Information

Funding Type

  • Fellowship

Role

  • Student

Program

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